Friday, May 8, 2009

ESPN2 covers the Nationwide Series race from Darlington, SC tonight live. There was rain today, so expect a full update when Allen Bestwick goes live at 7PM with the NASCAR Countdown show.

Bestwick will be joined by Rusty Wallace and Brad Daugherty. Dale Jarrett is on vacation, so Wallace will then join Dr. Jerry Punch and Andy Petree in the announce booth to call the race. Shannon Spake, Jamie Little, Dave Burns and Mike Massaro will cover the action from pit road.

The Nationwide Series once again is a story of the "haves and the have nots." The Sprint Cup Series teams and drivers who cross-over into this series have been dominating for several seasons now, right down to winning the points championship.

This field is a mix of all kinds of teams from the top Cup Series pros to the start-and-park brigade. It should make for an interesting race, especially the first fuel run where everyone is on the track.

ESPN always makes good pictures and sound, so the Darlington stripe should be on display as the cars run inches from the wall lap after lap. Hopefully, Punch and company update the field and keep talking about the action on the track, not the script that ESPN hopes is created. That script often involves two drivers named Carl and Kyle.

This post will serve to host your TV-related comments on the Nationwide Series race from Darlington on ESPN2. Just click the comments button below to add your opinion. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.

Thank you for taking time out of your Friday to stop by The Daly Planet.

SPEED has another dynamite Friday lined-up for NASCAR fans, this time from Darlington. Beginning at 11AM ET, SPEED will be on the air right up until the start of the Nationwide Series coverage at 7PM on ESPN2.

Mike Joy will be doing ironman duty for SPEED as he calls Sprint Cup Series practice, Nationwide Series qualifying and then wraps the day up with Sprint Cup qualifying. The "big boys" will qualify beginning at 5PM.

Once again Joy will be joined by his NASCAR on Fox booth-mates for the Sprint Cup action, while Hermie Sadler and Jeff Hammond will handle the Nationwide duties.

Don't forget, Fox Sports CEO David Hill will be on the foxsports.com chat page answering your NASCAR TV questions from 3-4PM ET. Questions can be submitted in advance, with the email address listed on the website chat page.

SPEED does a great job with both qualifying and practice coverage. Once again, the ESPN TV team just covers the Nationwide Series race and is then long gone. ESPN2 does manage to sneak-in NASCAR Now at 4:30PM between live sessions.

This post will serve to host your comments on the daytime coverage on SPEED. There will be a new post up to live blog the Nationwide Series race coverage scheduled for 7PM.

To add your TV-related comments to this post, just click on the comments button. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.

Friday marks the beginning of Kyle Petty's well-known charity motorcycle ride. This season, Kyle's connections with the day-to-day grind of the NASCAR world are gone.

Petty seemed to be having a lot of fun this week as he posted a multitude of pictures to his Twitter page. That is Petty posing with his daughter Montgomery Lee above. He was riding out to meet his fellow motorcyclists in Washington state. Click here for Petty's Twitter page.

I would strongly encourage NASCAR fans to take a moment and sign-up for Twitter. It is fun, informative and easy to manage. For those already using this free service, use @kylepetty to get all the updates and send Kyle tweets.

Believe it or not, this is Petty's 15th season of the charity ride. This year the Chick-fil-A company is his official corporate sponsor. Petty and over 200 riders will be logging 3,500 miles as they trek from Stevenson, WA to the Victory Junction Gang Camp in Level Cross, NC. To date they have raised over 12 million dollars. Once again, the celebrities will range from charity ride regular Hershel Walker to golfer Davis Love III who may be riding his custom Orange County Chopper.

Perhaps, the biggest news will come along the way when the caravan stops in Kansas City, KS on May 13th. Kyle and Pattie Petty will be officially announcing the opening of a second Victory Junction Gang Camp and holding a groundbreaking ceremony. What an exciting moment for all those involved in this effort.

It's no secret that these last few years have been tough for Kyle where NASCAR is concerned. Looking at him strictly as a father who was motivated by the tragic loss of a son to help others really puts things in a whole new light. What he and his wife have been able to accomplish with the help of corporate sponsors and the NASCAR community in general is simply amazing.

This next week is a tremendous opportunity for NASCAR fans along the charity ride route to say hello and participate in the daily activities. Click here for the wonderful website that will keep Internet users informed of the ride from start to finish.

Each day's travel is listed, so take a moment to see if this year's ride comes through your town. If you take some pictures, please feel free to forward them to us for posting at editor@thedalyplanet.tv or on Twitter at @TheDalyPlanet.

Good luck and a safe ride to all who are participating. Both SPEED and ESPN will have updates on this trip and once again Rutledge Wood will be riding from start-to-finish and relating his experiences on both SPEEDtv.com and Twitter (@RutledgeWood).

TDP welcomes comments from readers. Just click on the comments button below to add your opinion on this topic. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting.